No R will vote to impeach Donald Trump in the absence of a compelling political rationale (Trump’s approval ratings in single digits and public support for impeachment above 80% in the member’s district might be enough). Winning conviction would be an even bigger ask.

Sorry, guys, but I agree with Nancy LeTourneau: Donald Trump will not resign. Full stop. To do so would be to submit to losing, or as Tony Schwartz (ghostwriter of The Art of the Deal) put it, “the equivalent of obliteration.”

This is important to keep in mind when it is suggested that the president’s advisors should control him or that he will somehow resign himself when/if pressure mounts. Neither of those things will ever happen. He will increasingly react like a cornered animal lashing out at threats. To do otherwise would be “the equivalent of obliteration” in his mind. That is why he will become increasingly dangerous.

[link omitted]

Buzz, I hope you’re right and the Rs behave sanely. I’ve seen little evidence of sanity on that side of the aisle, but I do hope you’re right.

Bob, of course you’re right. Trump is pandering to his even-less–evolved base when he pokes at Sadiq Khan, that he thinks everyone with the family name Khan is closely related, and that he tweeted some Fox News malarkey or other. I’d add that he probably believes he looks strong and resolute by tweeting insults at a furrin mayor, plus the negative responses from more civilized people means he must be correct (Cleek’s Law: Today’s conservatism is the opposite of what liberals want today; updated daily).

Vladimir Putin rolled seven with Donald Trump. Putin needed an easily-duped, ill-informed, highly-manipulable candidate for president in order for his plan to work and boy howdy, did it work. Hell, the Russians don’t even have to work hard at it: all they have to do is nudge Trump in the right direction once in a while and let his natural tendency to take the dumbest possible course do the rest. It will take at least a generation for saner people to undo the damage Trump has done to the US’s reputation.

Bob, yes, Trump is fighting loudly for his (unconstitutional) Muslim ban to keep the mouth-breathers happy, but he’s also undermining the legitimacy of the courts, and that’s entirely deliberate. Trump is, bluntly, an autocrat at heart. He doesn’t recognize the authority of the courts because they’re not immediately giving him exactly what he wants.

Bob, it seems to me Occam’s Razor demands a less convoluted explanation for voter-registration irregularities. R Secretaries of State are a more realistic source of such problems (I have no idea in which states these bungled changes in registration occurred, but it’s no worse than even money we’re talking about red states). That’s not to say the Russian government wasn’t trying to disrupt the election, mind you.

Russia won’t stop trying to make mischief with American elections. Their cost-benefit analysis heavily favors continuing, even as Putin brazenly trolls us by almost-but-not-quite bragging that yes, indeed Russia screwed with the 2016 election.

Buzz, I do kind of like your suggestion: letting James Comey respond to Donald Trump’s live-tweeting would make for compelling watching. However, that would drag the entire hearing down to Trump’s level.

It sounds like The Intercept badly bungled the handling of its source (the site claims not to have known who the leaker was until the government identified her), which makes me wonder about the site’s professionalism. (And yes, Reality Leigh Winner made a dumb decision not to go to a mainstream media outlet.)

Julian Assange is outraged! by this and is demanding the head of the reporter who revealed Winner’s name to the feds. Predictable, really.

–alopecia

ProudLiberalAlways

Gee, were your gift bags as flammable as Ivanka Trump scarves? Remember how they started spontaneously combusting shortly after the primary started? Good times!

ProudLiberalAlways

Buzz is right, for some reason every time Rump does something shockingly stupid, my first thought is inevitably ” Alright, we’re through the looking glass here, people!!”

ProudLiberalAlways

Guys, I have another anecdote for ya——I live in NW Indiana, and I have gotten into the habit of checking my voter registration well before every election, because I have had to re-register 6 times since 2008. Each time, no one can seem to find my registration in this state. Little info—-I have lived in the same neighborhood, the same address, same phone, same birthdate, and voted in EVERY election since 1972. Since that time, not one stitch of information has changed, and they never “lost” my registration until 2008. And like I’ve said, I have checked 6 times since ’08, and I keep getting the same response from these ya-hoos. And I love your theory, Bob. “I’m not saying, I’m just sayin’!!” Perfect!!!

katanahamon

“Live-tweeting congressional hearings”…Four words that just don’t go together. How is Rump doing that in any way respectful of the proceedings???

Whether or not Russia interfered, look at the continued vehemence of HA Goodman and Bernie himself and others..between them and the Repubs it’s very easy to believe that they or the Russians tried or succeeded to disrupt the Democratic primaries.

Day by day, inch by inch our government is losing prestige, influence, respect, etc due to the incredible incompetence of Rump and associates. It’s incredibly disheartening and depressing.

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